Deadline: 5-Jan-22
SANDEE is inviting concept notes for research projects on environmental and resource economics to provide research support to researchers and institutions from South Asia and the HKH region interested in the interconnection among development, natural resource use, and the environment.
They encourage research on issues of interest to national, provincial, and local policymakers in the region, including environmental issues faced communities in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and how green recovery and nature-based solutions could be promoted for addressing environmental issues and improving livelihoods. They will also consider proposals that critically examine the implementation of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that each country has submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) under the Paris Agreement. Other areas of interest are urban environmental issues and sustainability, energy access and efficiency, disaster resilience and green jobs/growth, and circular economy.
Priorities
Research grants are provided for conducting research on topics related to economics and the environment in South Asia and the HKH region. Multi-disciplinary projects with a robust economic focus are encouraged. Cross-border collaborations and trans-boundary projects are prioritized. Currently, SANDEE’s research activities focus on three prioritized research themes:
- Ecosystems management
- Ecosystems provide a variety of provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. With human activities, some of these services are being lost at an accelerating rate. Changes in ecosystems have short-run as well as long-run implications for livelihoods and the health of natural systems. Research on ecosystems management will focus on:
- Understanding the implications of ecosystem changes for economic and social systems
- Economic analysis of conserving ecosystems and their services by evaluating costs and benefits to different stakeholders, especially the poor
- Examining different institutional arrangements to manage ecosystem services
- Ecosystems provide a variety of provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. With human activities, some of these services are being lost at an accelerating rate. Changes in ecosystems have short-run as well as long-run implications for livelihoods and the health of natural systems. Research on ecosystems management will focus on:
- Economics of climate change
- With climate change, South Asia is expected to face more variation in temperature and precipitation, more extreme weather events, and sea level rise over time. These changes are affecting millions of poor people in South Asian countries. Research on economics of climate change will focus on:
- Evaluation of the impacts of climate change
- Economic analysis of adaptation measures
- Evaluation of the mitigation strategies, particularly those that offer local co-benefits
- Examination of institutions and policies that need to be in place for low carbon growth and long-term adjustment to climate change
- With climate change, South Asia is expected to face more variation in temperature and precipitation, more extreme weather events, and sea level rise over time. These changes are affecting millions of poor people in South Asian countries. Research on economics of climate change will focus on:
- Policies and programs for greener development
- Governments and other organizations in South Asia put forward a variety of regulations and policies to manage local to global environmental problems. There is a need to examine alternate policy options and to evaluate their impacts in order to ensure that they are on a sustainable path. Under this theme, research will focus on:
- Program evaluation of the impacts of environmental policies, regulations, and programs
- Assessment of the economic incentives associated with different regulatory and market mechanisms and their contribution to policy compliance
- Governments and other organizations in South Asia put forward a variety of regulations and policies to manage local to global environmental problems. There is a need to examine alternate policy options and to evaluate their impacts in order to ensure that they are on a sustainable path. Under this theme, research will focus on:
Funding Information
Grants are likely to be in the range of USD 20,000–30,000 over at wo-year period. The upper limit grants are aimed for the multidisciplinary teams involving two or more countries in the region, or focus on a Trans boundary issue.
Eligibility Criteria
- Researchers working in South Asia and the HKH region are eligible to submit concept notes.
- Principal investigators(PIs) must be junior to mid-career professionals employed by a university, research institute, or other similar institutions in the region, including government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
- Institutional affiliation of the PI is mandatory for receiving research support. While submitting a full proposal (not needed for concept notes), a support letter from the institution where the PI is affiliated is required for further consideration.
- Research teams can include senior researchers (professor, directors, etc.) only as co-PIs or mentors but not as PI.
- They especially encourage women researchers and researchers affiliated with member universities of the Himalayan University Consortium (HUC)to apply.
- Concept notes for action research that aims to produce consulting-type reports will not be considered. SANDEE welcomes concept notes that involve interdisciplinary projects, cross-border collaborations, and transboundary topics with a mountain and gender focus.
- Regardless of whether concept notes submitted in response to this call focus on any of the environmental/natural resource topics, SANDEE will prioritize the selection of concept notes that have a strong economics component and the dual potential to produce high-impact scientific publications and information that is useful to national-, provincial-, or local-level policy makers in the region.
For more information, visit https://www.icimod.org/initiative/sandee/call-for-research-concept-notes-economics-of-natural-resource-use-and-environmental-change-2021/